Free Android app rats out bandwidth hogging applications

PowerTutor developed by University of Michigan researchers

University of Michigan professors and students have created an Android smartphone apps that gives users and developers a window into how much power their apps are chewing up.

PowerTutor, free at the Android Market, is designed to enable end users to compare the power-efficiency of apps and get a feel for how their actions affect smartphone battery life. The app gives a reading on power usage by the screen, network interface, processor and GPS receiver.

"Today, we expect our phones to realize more and more functions, and we also expect their batteries to last," said Lide Zhang, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, in a statement. " PowerTutor will help make that possible."

ALSO SEE: Droid battery life requires new charging habits

The University of Michigan team built the app by first dissecting their phones and installing electrical current meters. From there they set up a software model for estimating power usage.

• Wireless / Mobile
• Android
• Android smartphone
• Google Android